the frontier news

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THE FRONTIER NEWS June 2012

Diocese of Peshawar – Church of Pakistan The distribution of Shoe-boxes is a source of happiness for children. But this little girl is thanking God first, and will play later. We thank God for this beautiful soul, who can be a source of inspiration for millions….

Dedication of Lalazar Church Earlier, on arrival, Bishop Humphrey and his team was warmly welcomed by the Parish Committee, the priests incharge, and the local community. Bishop and his delegation members were garlanded, whereas, the children showered rose petals on the visitors. Dedication Service of the newly built Church at Lalazar Colony (a suburb of the University of Peshawar) was held on June 9, 2012. The Rt. Revd. Humphrey S. Peters, along with clergy and diocesan officers participated in the programme. The local community, the congregation and people from other denominations turned-up in large number. Mr. Asif Bhatti, member Provincial assembly, KPK was also present at the occasion.

Individual Highlights • The Dedication of Lalazar Church 1 • An Interfaith Activity – Exposure Trip • Pentecost celebrations

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• The Education Sector, Excellent Performance 3 • Healing Convention 4 • Junior Church activity 5 * Development Sector’s visit to Southern Parishes

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* CoP & its bonds with its Partners 6 * Youth Seminars at Tarbella & Swabi 6

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house….. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” (Acts 2:1-4)

The Ceremony: A large number of people in the form of a procession marched towards the Church, while singing Psalm 24. The priest in-charge Revd. Altaf Gohar and his associates handed over keys of the Church to Bishop Humphrey Peters, who after a brief but beautiful prayer unlocked the Church, and opened it for worship and prayers for the Lord’s Greater Glory. (Continued on Page 2)

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June 2012 ● Volume V, Issue VI ● The Frontier News

Dedication of Lalazar Church … (continued from page 1, col.2)

At this occasion, the Bishop from Anglican Orthodox Church was also present. Bishop Humphrey invited him to share in the dedication.

with holy vessels and elements for religious sacraments and rituals. It is worth mentioning that IdaraIbadat, Lahore generously contributed towards the reconstruction of the Church. The Diocese of Peshawar also contributed in the construction, while the Anglican Orthodox Church shared their contribution, as well.

Later, both the Bishops blessed the Sanctuary, the Holy Table, along The Feast: After the prayer service a big feast was served for all the people present at the occasion. and congratulated each other for the Lord’s blessings received on the day.

An Interfaith Activity - Exposure Trip

Last month, the Faith Friends organized an exposure trip for the Muslim students of the University of Peshawar to visit the St. Luke’s Church, Abbottabad. It is expected that their visit will further promote interfaith harmony among various religious communities. The students were excited to learn about Christianity and their ways of worship. The Priest In-charge of St. Luke’s Church, Abbottabad, Revd. Riaz Mubarik, along with his parish committee members welcomed the students. Revd. Riaz facilitated their visit to the Church and answered their various questions about Christian faith. After the visit, the students confessed that many misconceptions about Christianity were cleared by visiting the Church personally. “Now is the time to promote interfaith harmony by concentrating on similarities in various faiths, rather than qurrelling over petty differences”, said a student. After the visit, a refreshment party for the students was also organized by the Parish, and everybody enjoyed each others company, without discrimination of caste and creed. The churches in Pakistan never hesitate to open their gates for people of various faiths, as itself is a testimony. Page 2

The Rt. Revd. Humphrey S. Peters is offering condolence prayers at the house of Mr. Akram Khan Durani, former Chief-Minister, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. Mr. Durani is a renowned politician, and people from all walks of life went to offer their condolences and to console him, at the occasion of untimely death of his son. Mr. Akram Khan Durani is one of the prominent leaders of the Jamiat-ul-ulma-e-Islam, a religious political party.

June 2012 ● Volume V, Issue VI ● The Frontier News

Pentecost celebrations The Pentecost week was celebrated at the St. John’s Cathedral, Peshawar, various activities were organized to mark this special event of the Christianity. On Sunday, 27 May, a special Worship Service was held in the Cathedral, which was led by the Revd. Joseph John. A message from the Holy Bible was delivered by Revd. Naeem Patrick, he said, “On the day of Pentecost, the apostles received the Holy Spirit, empowered and strengthened them to preach the Good News (Gospel)”, he said. “Today, we should also ask God to fill us with the Holy Spirit and bear the fruit of the Spirit in our lives”, he added. Youth & women seminars in progress

On Monday, 28 May, a programme was organized for the children under the theme ‘Pentecost and Children’. Mr. Naeem Nazir, the OTS (Open Theological Seminary) Tutor explained to the children the background and reason to celebrate the Pentecost Day, through various stories and activities. Participants of women seminars

seminar was organized, and Revd. A. G. Paul was the guest speaker at this occasion. In his message, he disclosed ‘Importance of the Pentecost Day’, and explained how the Holy Spirit dwelled on the apostles and disciples, and how the Church was formed on the Day of Pentecost. He encouraged the youth to spend more and more time with God and be filled with Holy Spirit to serve the Lord, with courage and boldness. On Wednesday, 30 May, a special programme for women was organized at the Cathedral. Mrs. Kiran Shahzad, in her message said that when ‘Holy Spirit’ touches us, it renews and changes our life. She encouraged the women to pray for their children that may the Holy Spirit touch them, which will enable them to confront hardships of the present world.

Similarly, all the parishes of the Diocese organized special Prayer, Worship Services and programmes regarding the Pentecost Feast. We thank God that all services went On Tuesday, 29 May, a youth well without any untoward incident.

The Education Sector

Keeping-up the Tradition Educational Institutions of the Diocese of Peshawar have once again maintained their tradition of excellence by showing outstanding results in the S.S.C. (Matric) Examinations. The Rt. Revd. Humphrey Peters and the Diocesan Officers congratulated the Diocesan Directorate of Education, including, all the Educational Institutions heads. The Pennell High School, Bannu apart from showing 100% result, also secured the first three and the 8 th Position, thus distinctively stands among the top 10 in the Province. The Edwardes College Schools of Peshawar, the main campus and the wing – I, students also showed 100% result and every student secured A and/or A+ grades. Similarly, the Elizabeth girls high school, Edwrades high school (English Medium), Peshawar and the Christ Church School, Nowshera showed outstanding performances. The Commdesk, DoP congratulates the Principals, staff and students of all the Diocesan Educational Institutions.

Two-days Healing Convention

The Bishop with other clergy, during the Convention

Worship session

June 11 – 12, 2012: A Healing Convention was held at the premises of Edwardes College School (Wing-II). A good number of people attended the Convention and received the blessings and healing in a Spirit-filled environment. The theme of the Convention was, “Restoration” and the theme verse was Jeremaiah 8:22, “Is there no balm in Gilead? …….. Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?”

On the second day, the Rt. Revd. Humphrey S. Peters was the keynote speaker, in his Sermon, he said that besides physical diseases, may one suffer from various worldly tensions/worries. “We can only enjoy our lives, when we keep the fear of God in our lives and then God pours-out his blessings upon us”, he said. “We enjoy our lives with and in Him”, he added. He mentioned the example of Job, who was guarded, and Satan couldn’t harm him. Later, he went through a period of trial, but even then he didn’t use any blasphemous language against God, till the end. After passing through his trial/test, he was blessed, abundantly. “Similarly, we should also spend our lives in God’s obedience, and receive his blessings”, he concluded.

The Rt. Revd. Humphrey S. Peters was the patron of the convention, he attended the Convention on both days. The first day’s first session was led by Revd. Shahzad Gill, in his message on the theme verse, he said, if we believe we will be restored. The other message was delivered by a lay man, Mr. Nawaz Nathaniel, OTS Tutor. Revd. Akmal Haroon, from Tarbella Parish led the Prayer Session, and many were healed from different diseases and were set free from evil spirits. It was a spirittouching environment and people felt blessed by the Holy Spirit.

Revd. Akmal Haroon leading his worship & Healing Session

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After the Bishop’s sermon, the Prayer Session was led by Revd. Akmal Haroon, and people received blessings, and many were healed and set-free from captivities. This two-days healing convention brought a spiritual revolution in the lives of local communities. The participants shared their testimonies about how the Holy Spirit touched them and blessed them during the convention.

Worship Group, during the Convention

June 2012 ● Volume V, Issue VI ● The Frontier News

Development Sector’s visits…

Sewing Centre 14 – 16 June 2012: The Development Secretary Revd. Altaf Gohar and his staff visited the Southern Parishes of the Diocese, to check and inspect the development projects in these parishes. Main focus of their visit was to see the Adult literacy Classes and Sewing Centres of the parishes, and to start new classes/centres, as well. On 14 June, they visited Tank parish’s, 1 sewing Centre and 2 Adult Literacy classes there, and also taught new methods and teaching techniques to the instructors. A special worship service was also organized at the Tank Church, and the Revd. Altaf Gohar shared a devotional thought with the local congregation for their encouragement and motivation. On 15 June, they visited D. I. Khan’s sewing centres and adult literacy classes. They also supervised annual exams of the students and awarded certificates to the successful students. New classes at new locations in D. I. Khan have also been inaugurated.

Junior Church Activity in Tank

Tank is a very sensitive area, especially security wise, as elements of extremism of Taliban are on the rise, however, an operation against miscreants is also going-on in the area, as well. Nevertheless, the Christian community seems being adapting to the situation, as they always demonstrate their great faith in the Lord. And the Church activities are going smoothly as usual, despite the fact that social life has been badly damaged in the region. June 14, 2012: The Junior Church Coordinator, Mrs. Noureen Altaf recently visited Tank parish and its Sunday School, and distributed shoe-boxes (gifts) among 90 children boys and girls in the Sunday school of Tank Church. The children were very excited and happy having received the gifts. Mrs. Noureen also encouraged the children to actively participate in the Sunday school and learn more about Jesus and the Bible. The Junior Church Coordinator also held a meeting with the Teachers of Sunday school and advised them to promote and develop their Sunday school, syllabus and activities. Earlier, the local parish, the children, and the local community all welcomed the guests and showed them hospitality. “We are very happy to have them here, and we appreciate their courage to travel all the way, and distribute gifts which are a source of happiness for our children and the community”, said a local community leader.

Development Projects’ Supervisor examining the work of the students

On 16 June, the Development Sector’s team visited Bannu Parish, and inspected various development projects, and announced that new sewing centres and adult literacy classes at various new locations in Bannu will soon be started. They also met Revd. Nazir Masih, the in-charge priest of Bannu parish and discussed feasibility of starting new projects in Bannu. Page 5

June 2012 ● Volume V, Issue VI ● The Frontier News

CoP & its bonds with its Partners The Church of Pakistan (CoP) has a long history of partnership with the overseas church partners, in Europe and America, and the United Society for Propagation of Gospel (USPG), UK-based organization is one of the oldest partners of the CoP. Now a days, the USPG is trying re-shaping its nature of partnership and working on Leadership Development in the CoP. For this purpose, they organized a Leadership Training workshop in March, 2012, at Lahore and the follow-up of that workshop took place, on 19 – 23 June, 2012, at O’Spring, Murree. Delegates of various dioceses of the Church of Pakistan (CoP) actively participated in the workshop. Delegation of the Diocese of Peshawar comprising the Archdeacon S. P. Asghar, the Revd. Ijaz M. Gill, Vice President (Clergy), and Mrs. Reena Patrick, Women Coordinator participated in this Workshop. One of the objectives of the workshop was to develop secondline leaders in the dioceses and to initiate some new projects for further development of the Christian community in Pakistan. Some programmes for Interfaith Peace & Harmony in the region were also discussed and approved. The workshop was a success, as the USPG secures concern about the development of the local Christian community in the region, as well. Page 6

A Testimony As we mentioned in our last newsletters about the Lalazar Church’s original mudstructure which collapsed, due to heavy rainfalls and the rough weather, last year. Here is a story of one of the 40 survivors of the roof collapse during the Worship Service and were trapped under the rubble. Among them were two ladies as well, who were badly injured. One of them was a young girl of age 22, Miss Shumila William, a youth leader of her Church. Miss Shumila injured her backbone and had a broken leg as well. “When I was under the rubble, I thought it was the last day of my life, and fainted”, she said. “Later, I woke up in a hospital bed, obviously someone rescued me. I went through various surgeries, but I didn’t recover completely. I was a disbaled person, without any help, aid or rehabilitation plan, except waiting for revelation of God’s plan for my life!” she added. “A few months later, a team of prayerworriers came to our church, and I went to see them with all my faith in my God, I knew in my heart that this was the moment I have been waiting for! which will heal me today. The Pastor started praying especially for me, and I felt that I was getting healed”. And Praise the Lord, I was completely head and mobile. I met Shumila during the Dedication Service of Lalazar Church, she was serving the guests, and her local community. She was also helping the priests and elders of the Church in organizing the programme. She happily told me her story and was happy that their Church is being blessed. The story of Shumila reminds us once again that our complete confidence and faith in our Lord can heal us, and can set us free. As He is the Living God who loves His people always! Miss Shumila is an active youth leader and work tirelessly for the youth’s spiritual uplift, and to bring them into the feet of our Lord Jesus Christ. She discussed with her priest incharge and the Diocesan Youth officer, Mr. Insar Gohar to organize a youth seminar where she could share her testimony and to motivate other young people to join the church, and dedicate their lives to the Lord to serve Him whole heartedly. Halleluiah, Praise the Lord!

Shoe Boxes a gift for children - Junior Church

Now a days, the Diocesan Junior Church Desk is distributing Shoe-boxes in various Sunday Schools of churches and parishes. These special gifts (shoeboxes) were sent by the American children through Pakistan Sunday School Ministry (PSSM), Gujranwala. Mrs. Noureen Altaf, Co-ordinator of Diocesan Junior Church Desk has started visiting various Sunday schools and is distributing Shoe-boxes among the children.

The distribution team visited Agriculture University, Lalazar Colony, Forest College, Academy town and University parish. About 500 shoeboxes were distributed among the children belonging to various churches/denominations. The Salvation Army’s Church also helped the Diocesan Junior Church Desk in visits and distribution of the gifts. The children were very happy to have received these gifts, which contain toys, stationery items, and other attractive things for children. The Shoe-box distribution is a special ministry of Pakistan Sunday School Ministry (PSSM), which is run through the Diocesan Junior Church Desk without discrimination of denominations. Halleluiah!

June 2012 ● Volume V, Issue VI ● The Frontier News